My Son
by McMuffinDragon
Summary: What would do, my son, She asked, If I were to go away? precolonial!America and "Native America."


He couldn't remember much from his time before; there was a woman though, he knew that for sure. She had had long thick black hair and dark tan skin and deep black eyes. She wore no clothes and he remembered how her skin would glisten with sweat and her modest muscles would shift as she worked.

As she knelt in the field, he crept behind her and jumped for her back, "There you are." He cheered.

"Yes, you found me," She smiled in return, kissing the top of his head. Her hands were dirty from digging and her body was dusty.

"What are you doing?" He asked, holding one of her weathered, calloused hands in both of his soft small ones.

"I'm planting," She replied, gesturing to a small woven sack with seeds in it and a half dug hole in the earth.

"Why would you do that?" He asked, looking into the hole, then tugging on her hand, "We should go play instead."

"I cannot do that," She replied gently, always gently, pulling her hand from his and choosing a few seeds from the bag, "I must tend to the land." She placed one seed in the dirt. "Will you help me?" With a smile and a nod, he knelt beside her and carefully pushed the earth back over the seed. "Very good," She murmured above him, patting the dirt together with him. "We must always care for the land, my son, and treat it well."

"Why?" He asked, looking up at her. Her hair captured the sunlight, and her skin glowed.

"Because it cares for us, it is our only home, we must respect it, my son." He looked down at the earth in his hands and smiled.

"I will, I promise."

---

He sat on a fallen log throwing stones at a small gray squirrel. The animal scampered around, confused and helpless. He swung his feet back and forth, humming to himself as he aimed for the squirrel's large tail. She came into the clearing and set her hands on his small shoulders. "What are you doing, my son?" She asked in a firm, but not angry, tone.

"I'm trying to hit him." He answered simply picking up another pebble.

"You mustn't do that," She replied, holding his wrist gently and taking the pebble from his fingers.

"Why?" He asked, looking up at her.

"Because we should not harm others," She said softly. They both watched the small animal scamper away into the brush. "We have no right to do so; we are not greater than they and we must learn to coexist with each other, my son." He stared at where the squirrel had been with a slightly pained expression. "Do you understand?"

He began to sniffle and buried his face in her chest, "I-I didn't mean to h-h-hurt him. I-I-I'm s-sorry." She patted his back and kissed him on his crown.

"It's alright, my son," She murmured, "You've learned now."

---  
They came on big ships; they were different. As he watched them from the brush with her, he asked, "What are they?"

"They are like we are, my son." She replied patiently.

"But they are not like us," He argued, "Their bodies shine and their skin is light and they do not respect the land or others."

She smiled down to him, "They are different indeed, but they are still of this land and no matter how different they seem, my son, we must try to get along."

He watched as they dragged in arm loads of wood and carcasses of deer. "I will." He replied.

---  
As time went on, she grew thinner, her breasts withered, her hair became dull and brittle, and she began to cough. She tried to hide her decline from him and smiled; he pretended not to see.

"Hurry up," He called after her brightly

"Slow down, my son," She wheezed after him, beaming with her tired, dark eyes, "I am tired." She caught up to him and laid down in the tall grass, "May we rest for a while?" He laid down beside her and snuggled into her bosom; she kissed the top of his head. They were quiet in the warm sunshine. "What would do, my son," She asked, "If I were to go away?"

"I would be very sad." He said in a voice of breezes and blue skies, "But I would care for the land and love everyone like you said I should until you came back, I promise." She didn't answer him; he looked up at her face to see her sleeping. Her closed eyes were sunken in, her cheekbones sharper than usual, and her lips cracked and dry. He kissed her forehead softly and hugged close to her. Then drifted into a deep sleep.

---  
When he woke, she was gone. The sun was still bright, the grass still warm, but he was alone. "Where are you?" He called to the forest. No answer came. He ran, screaming for her, searching for her, but she did not come back. By the side of a stream, he slipped and fell in the water. He got up and looked at his own reflection and found he couldn't breathe; he had changed. His hair was gold and his skin was light like the others. He reached out a hand and saw the other boy do the same; they touched but only ripples came of it. "Who are you?" He whispered, "What happened?"

---  
He looked up at the smokestacks, belching acrid black smoke into the blue sky. There were more of them everyday. He glanced to a stack of newspapers on a storefront, more riots and murders. There were more of them everyday. He climbed a hill on the outskirts of the town and looked down upon it.

_We must always care for the land, my son, and treat it well._  
He watched as all the lights in the town came on, the smokestacks continued to spew, and cars drove into the town.

_We must learn to coexist with each other, my son._  
He heard a gunshot and a scream.

He sat in the short, dead grass and stared up at the darkening sky. "I'm sorry, my mother," He whispered.


End file.
